1 definition
by
juuuummmmyyyy

A "Botched Joke" has occurred when progressives seek to forestall any opposition use of a democrat quoted reciting a conceit held commonly among progressives, though not among the general voting public, by a campaign of obfuscation and phony outrage.

The most obnoxious display of this occurred when Sen. John Kerry expressed the typical progressive view that the ranks of our country's military enlistees are comprised of uneducated poors who couldn't know better and are therefor themselves properly understood to be additional victims of "Bush's wars", saying:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Kerry and his supporters claimed that this was a "botched joke" which was intended to mock Pres. Bush. In service of this silly claim, they offered up a half-dozen alternative, "original" versions which added and rearranged words and punctuation. Progressives begged the question, "Why would Kerry commit political suicide by joking at the troops' expense?" when it is clear from the video of his comments that Kerry intended no humor whatsoever. As if to undermine their own false narrative, progressives simultaneously praised Kerry for displaying the political courage to tell the truth about America's "poverty draft".

It would seem that progressives are going to handle Obama's 'You didn't build that' remark by giving it the Botched Joke treatment.